Flooding fears are proved right

Published:15:07Thursday 12 July 2012

If you look back to when the County Times and myself met at Wickhurst Lane, between Horsham and Broadbridge Heath, with the Environment Agency you will see that I said that if they did not clean river sand, get landowners to clean ditches and streams or get contractors to stop building properties on land which has not been drained properly, we will end up with a wide range of flooding.

That has now been proved founded. As with fallen and dead trees, ie oaks, willows, beech and conifers, woodlands which have not been cleared and tidied up by landowners are causing blocked streams and rivers.

The Environment Agency will tell you it has no money to do it. Likewise West Sussex County Council Highways will tell you the same. And yet the county council can afford the luxury of a No 2 new town hall in Horsham that no person who is a member of the public can visit, because your calls go back to No 1 town hall at Chichester.

It is time this coalition Government, with this county council, was put to bed permanently.

Go back to basics. Use prisoners to clean the river, the unemployed to teach them about the environment in this and other counties, get rid of the useless councillors and politicians and start cleaning and tidying this lovely county up.

The county hall No 2 at Horsham I believe is tea and coffee rooms, for chats.

We haven’t time for that any more. Get off your backsides and start earning your wages. If not retire or resign so that new people can come in and motivate this county far more than what is happening now.

Where large amounts of houses are being built by property companies, get them to first clean the rivers and streams, and make sure that all areas are in a safe state for no flooding.

In other areas ensure that dead trees or dangerous trees are removed and gas and other underground pipework is fully marked.

This also applies to footpaths, bridlepaths and the Downslink, also the South Downs Way.

There is at the moment an agenda to build first and then consider this after. It is wrong, forget the local and county planners who give permission but have independent planners who are qualified and who look a lot closer at details than we have at the moment.

I hope people see this and understand why you had the flooding - not enough attention to detail.